Should I choose the cheapest agent to save money?

The old saying “you get what you pay for” has never been so relevant. Now there’s a difference between a cheaper agent and a cheap agent so don’t get them mixed up. A cheap agent will provide you with the cheapest, sorry… they call it “cost effective”, way of selling your property. They will do the job for a small fee and will most probably entice you with free advertising. But what’s at stake?

Your property, at what ever level, is a big sale. It’s not just about getting what you are asking, it’s about getting the most money out of your potential buyers which will in turn determine the path of where your life goes from there. Not only an investment in marketing your property is needed, but what you invest into your agent and the incentive they must get the best price will also determine how much they are going to work for you and care about your outcome.

A cheap agent in many cases just wanted the listing. Because they’re not getting paid much for each sale they make, they must work on stockpiling listings and working the different owners’ motivations. Who ever is getting closer to market value with their asking price sits at the top of the list and scales down from there. They earn a living from making multiple small commissions and the service is focused on just getting sales over the line.

With a mentality like that, you are sure to leave plenty of money on the table. It’s more like a gamble. Every now and then a hot property will break a record, something a monkey could do. Though one great transaction doesn’t make up for all the owners they’ve had to force to take low offers. They must force you to take offers, that’s how the put food on the table. They’re good at it too.

During the discussion of fees and advertising (your two main expenses when selling), an agent has the perfect time to show off their negotiation skills. Firstly, by selling you reasons why you need to invest into different types of advertising mediums and how much you should allocate to each one all the way to negotiating their self-worth as an agent. Think about it, if they can display their skills with those two aspects of the listing process, to a point that you feel comfortable going ahead and understanding the investment rather the expense, then imagine how that agent will sell to your potential buyers all the amazing aspects of your property and how they will get more money out of them. It’s the perfect way to choose who is going to be the agent who gets you the best price.

Once again, it’s not about paying agents and big commissions and spending plenty of money on advertising. It’s about how well they negotiate with you until everyone is happy and what is the best strategy going forward to get you the best price.

DISCLAIMER

The following advice is of a general nature and intended as an opinion and broad guide. For all legal, financial or real estate advice you should obtain independent professional advice to do with the specific nature of your circumstances before making any legal, financial or real estate decisions.